Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage

No espionage missions have been kept more secret than those involving American submarines. Now, Blind Man's Bluff shows for the first time how the navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. It unveils how the navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, 30 years ago.

Red November: Inside the Secret U.S.-Soviet Submarine War

Red November is filled with hair-raising, behind-the-scenes stories that take you deep beneath the surface and into the action of the Cold War. Few know how close the world has come to annihilation better than the warriors who served America during the tense, 45-year struggle known as the Cold War. Yet for decades, their work has remained shrouded in secrecy.

Scorpion Down

One Navy admiral called it "one of the greatest unsolved sea mysteries of our era". To this day, the U.S. Navy officially describes it an inexplicable accident. For decades, the real story of the disaster has eluded journalists, historians, and the family members of the lost crew. But a small handful of Navy and government officials knew the truth from the very beginning: the sinking of the nuclear submarine U.S.S. Scorpion and its crew of 99 men, on May 22, 1968, was an act of war.

All Hands Down: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on the USS Scorpion

Forty years ago, in May 1968, the submarine USS Scorpion sank in mysterious circumstances with a loss of 99 lives. The tragedy occurred during the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan

The War Below is a dramatic account of extraordinary heroism, ingenuity, and perseverance—and the vital role American submarines played in winning the Pacific War. Focusing on the unique stories of the submarines Silversides, Drum, and Tang—and the men who skippered and crewed them—James Scott takes readers beneath the waves to experience the thrill of a direct hit on a merchant ship and the terror of depth charge attacks.

The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy

During the Cold War, world superpowers amassed nuclear arsenals containing the explosive power of one million Hiroshimas. The Soviet Union secretly plotted to create the "Dead Hand," a system designed to launch an automatic retaliatory nuclear strike on the United States, and developed a fearsome biological warfare machine. President Ronald Reagan, hoping to awe the Soviets into submission, pushed hard for the creation of space-based missile defenses.

Thunder Below!: The USS Barb Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II

Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships-she changed forever the way submarines stalk and kill their prey.

This is a gripping adventure chock-full of "you-are-there" moments. Fluckey has drawn on logs, reports, letters, interviews, and a recently discovered illegal diary kept by one of his torpedomen.

Atomic Adventures: Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder - A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science

Whether you are a scientist or a poet, pro-nuclear energy or staunch opponent, conspiracy theorist or pragmatist, James Mahaffey's books have served to open up the world of nuclear science like never before. With clear explanations of some of the most complex scientific endeavors in history, Mahaffey's new book looks back at the atom's wild, secretive past and then toward its potentially bright future.

Going Home: A Novel: The Survivalist Series, Book 1

If society collapsed, could you survive? When Morgan Carter's car breaks down 250 miles from his home, he figures his weekend plans are ruined. But things are about to get much, much worse: the country's power grid has collapsed. There is no electricity, no running water, no Internet, and no way to know when normalcy will be restored - if it ever will be.

A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy

On a quiet Saturday morning in August 2000, two explosions - one so massive it was detected by seismologists around the world - shot through the shallow Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. Russia's prized submarine, the Kursk, began her fatal plunge to the ocean floor. Award-winning journalist Robert Moore presents a riveting, brilliantly researched account of the deadliest submarine disaster in history.

Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129

Despite incredible political, military, and intelligence risks, and after six years of secret preparations, the CIA attempted to salvage the sunken Soviet ballistic missile submarine K-129 from the depths of the North Pacific Ocean in early August 1974. This audacious effort was carried out under the cover of an undersea mining operation sponsored by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.

Operation Ivy Bells

Blending personal experience and real-world events in a fictional wrapping, Operation Ivy Bells offers a never-before-seen glimpse of these heroic men fearlessly facing death to gather the intel that tipped the scales to win the Cold War.

A Very Expensive Poison: The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and Putin's War with the West

On November 1, 2006, journalist and Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in London. He died 22 days later. The cause of death? Polonium - a rare, lethal, and highly radioactive substance. Here Luke Harding unspools a real-life political assassination story complete with KGB, CIA, MI6, and Russian mobsters.

Stalking the Red Bear: The True Story of a U.S. Cold War Submarine's Covert Operations Against the Soviet Union

Stalking the Red Bear, for the first time ever, describes the action principally from the perspective of a commanding officer of a nuclear submarine during the Cold War - the one man aboard a sub who makes the critical decisions - taking us closer to the Soviet target than any work on submarine espionage has ever done before. This is the untold story of a covert submarine espionage operation against the Soviet Union during the Cold War as experienced by the commanding officer of an active submarine.

To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World

To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how the British Royal Navy allowed one nation to rise to a level of power unprecedented in history. From the navy's beginnings under Henry VIII to the age of computer warfare and special ops, historian Arthur Herman tells the spellbinding tale of great battles at sea, heroic sailors, violent conflict, and personal tragedy - of the way one mighty institution forged a nation, an empire, and a new world.

Chernobyl 01:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster

At 01:23:40 on April 26th 1986, Alexander Akimov pressed the emergency shutdown button at Chernobyl's fourth nuclear reactor. It was an act that forced the permanent evacuation of a city, killed thousands, and crippled the Soviet Union. The event spawned decades of conflicting, exaggerated, and inaccurate stories.

Voyage of the Devilfish

A confrontation of nuclear submarines just 200 miles off the American coast is the scenario of this riveting novel by a former U.S. Navy submarine officer. At the center of the deadly conflict are two men on a mission: one wants to find his father's killer, while the other wants to destroy Glasnost and provoke a war. The ensuing underwater chases and battles build to a stunning showdown.

Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident

U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is a central character in the movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks. In his classic 1970 memoir, Powers reveals the full story behind what happened in the most sensational espionage case in Cold War history. After his U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down, Powers was captured on May 1, 1960 and endured 61 days of rigorous interrogation by the KGB, a public trial, a conviction for espionage, and the start of a 10-year sentence.

Cry Havoc

The news is full of disturbing events today. There's war and rumors of war. There's the false recovery of the economy. Faith in the US economy is extremely low. Foreign banks have either slowed their purchases of Treasury Bonds or, in a few cases, begun unloading them. We have a current election that is rife with corruption, extreme partisanship, and outright fraud. It would appear the left in the country is ready to do about anything to see their candidate elected.

Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters; From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima

From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters.

The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945

One of America's preeminent military historians, James D. Hornfischer has written his most expansive and ambitious book to date. Drawing on new primary sources and personal accounts of Americans and Japanese alike, here is a thrilling narrative of the climactic end stage of the Pacific War, focusing on the US invasion of the Mariana Islands in June 1944 and the momentous events that it triggered.

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety

Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved - and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind.

Overwatch: The Logan West Thrillers, Book 1

Former Marine Force Reconnaissance officer Logan West emerges from a blackout after drinking away the worries of his ruined marriage and PTSD, an all too familiar scene for the recovering alcoholic. But he wakes to more than a killer hangover: A professional mercenary has been sent to capture him. After an embattled showdown, Logan impulsively answers the dead man's ringing phone, triggering a hasty rescue of Logan's estranged wife and a global race against the clock to track down an unknown organization....

Team Yankee: A Novel of World War III

Team Yankee, the New York Times best-seller by Harold Coyle, presents a glimpse of what it would have been like for the soldiers who would have had to meet the relentless onslaught of Soviet and Warsaw Pact divisions. Using the geo-political and military scenarios described by General Sir John Hackett, former NORTHAG commander and author of World War Three; August 1985, Team Yankee follows the war as seen from the turret of Captain Sean Bannon's tank.

Publisher's Summary

One of the great secrets of the Cold War, hidden for decades, is revealed at last.

Early in 1968, a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine sank in the waters off Hawaii, hundreds of miles closer to American shores than it should have been. Compelling evidence strongly suggests that the sub sank while attempting to fire a nuclear missile.

We now know that the Soviets had lost track of the sub; it had become a rogue. The Nixon administration launched a clandestine, half-billion-dollar project to recover the sunken K-129. The successful recovery effort helped forge new relations between the U.S. and the Soviets, even as it revealed a treacherous plan to provoke war between the U.S. and China, a plan that, had it succeeded, would have had devastating consequences.

A friend who worked on submarines recommended this book and said many of the facts are true from his experience and what he heard through his navy career. Still the book could of been cut in half at least. I kept thinking to myself. "You said that already move on" If you like subs and sub stories like I do, it is a MUST READ. I would recommend "Blinds Man Bluff" next.

The real story of the submarine K-129 - as told in this book - is important, startling and deserves to be known. Unfortunately, the available facts of the case can support little more than a long magazine article. As a result, the book is quite repetitive. One can feel the author straining to fill the pages. Further, he mixes fact and 'speculative re-creation' too freely in the first half, leaving it unclear what is Definitely True as opposed to Probably True. Nonetheless, this book tells an amazing story with far-reaching and historic implications. A must-read for enthusiasts of Cold War history.

Very good. Could have benefited from some editing. I found myself wandering during some of the early details on Soviet military life.

I wasn't prepared when I found the book seemed to be in two or more parts: First, background and major events; then, later events and analysis. This arrangement was a pleasant surprise and served the story well. It kept things simpler.

Rich with detail, this fascinating account of a little-known moment in history and the resulting cascade of events that followed kept me riveted and sparked a desire to find out much more about this quandary. Well worth the choice.

In the tradition of Tom Clancy, a great spy story is pitched. Whether it is true or not may never be known, but the theory fits the available facts. In my experience, the story rings true, and presented some additional new information on a key event of the cold war. Red Star Rogue is a compelling read.

For those interested in cold war history and military issues, this book is very interesting, and shocking. Since listening, I have researched some of what is discussed in this book, and it has all checked out. It is hard to believe that the story this book tells isn't more widely known. The narraration is good, and the research is very detailed. I highly recommend this book to those inclined to detailed history.

The chief problem here is that the author starts with *only* four facts; K-129 had 15 more crewmen on board than normal, K-129 failed to send out two routine radio reports, K-129 was closer to Hawaii than assigned when it went down, and K-129 was apparently on the surface when it suffered an explosion that sank it...

...and his conclusion is that this adds up to a plot by shadowy forces in the Kremlin to start a nuclear war between China and the USA by using K-129 as a stand-in for a Chinese missile submarine and nuking Pearl Harbor.

Add to this the old-time snake oil salesman's dodge of claiming, "my sources are secret and cannot come forward!" and you get the picture. A cop I know once observed, "in any criminal case, there are things the police believe, things the police know, and things the police can prove."

None of this silly book is remotely *proven*. It's all just conjecture. If you want to waste your time, stick with that TV show where they hunt for Bigfoot.

Cold War nuclear submarine brinkmanship is what this book is about. Very well narrated and an interesting theory that it was a rogue group of Soviets that wanted to start World War III by nuking Hawaii. Very interesting conclusions are made about this theory. Overall I loved listening to this audio-book. A good read/listen for anyone that is interested in Cold War/Naval brinkmanship.

Excellent coverage of a topic, of which, not much was known. The information contained is overwhelming in detail, and one assumes, accuracy. It does manage to connect the dots for a number of already known facts and reveals a rather sinister, if not frightening, plot.
How one event in history can affect global relations is truly fascinating.
Superb, and engaging writing, and well worth a listen to.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Trevor

2/17/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Excellent subject Comical narrater"

Such a shame that an excellent book should be ruined by a totally useless narrater .......shame on who ever commissioned this reader

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mr

12/3/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Fascinating story"

Would you consider the audio edition of Red Star Rogue to be better than the print version?

Without doubt a super story. Expertly read and keeps your interested from start to finish

What was one of the most memorable moments of Red Star Rogue?

That special moment when the glomar explorer got involved

What does Brian Emerson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Brian Emerson brings to life this Cold War thriller. He has the perfect "Company" espionage voice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The sub plots discussing Cold War espionage tricks such as wire taps etc

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

paul

WORTHING, United Kingdom

5/25/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"good story - interesting"

I found the whole story fascinating - more so as I had never heard of it before. I don't draw the same conspiracy conclusions s the author but that didn't spoil it .

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Stuart

MILLOM, United Kingdom

3/8/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Red Star Rouge"

If you could sum up Red Star Rogue in three words, what would they be?

Enthroughling

What did you like best about this story?

The story, the factual evidence, and the mystery

What about Brian Emerson’s performance did you like?

he presented it well, he kept your interest

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Its not for laughing or crying, but interesting and why havent we heared about it before. it make you wonder -Who are the enermy?

Any additional comments?

Good factual knowledge and presented in a way that is listernable

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Ollie

10/20/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Great Story"

What did you like most about Red Star Rogue?

This story is really interesting. The author manages to go into quite a lot of technical detail but doesn't let it get in the way of the story.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

ZL600A1

UK

9/11/12

Overall

"Great detail and research = probable truth!"

A well researched possible scenario makes for a great story that is completely believable if not the truth!

The narrator was brilliant.

Well worth purchasing.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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